Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all you who celebrate the holiday. Best regards to those who do not. This year we are very thankful for our new outreach to BM (God knows the name). It has been encouraging to see a core group develop of 8 or so people who come faithfully three times a week to hear God’s Word taught in their own language. We have been teaching them through portions of the Old Testament and very soon we will be introducing the birth of our Lord. Needless to say that here in the Dom as well as just about everywhere else in PNG the facts of the Gospel are well known. But the greater truth behind those facts is woefully misunderstood. This is where Chronological teaching in their mother tongue (instead of the common or “trade” language) bridges the gap. So far we have gotten responses from our little group at BM such as, “we have never heard this kind of teaching before” and “we have heard these (Bible) stories before but we never understood what the import of them is”. Please continue to pray with us that the BM group will turn to the Savior in true faith when we finally present the Death, Burial and Resurrection. May they know the true meaning of Christmas this year.
We are thankful, too, that Revelation and Philemon are scheduled for a final consultant check in February. We will be free then to publish the Dom New Testament. We are already proof reading and making small improvements to the rest of Dom New Testament texts in anticipation of bringing it to the US to print next year.
We are thankful for the 20-26 women and some children that come on Tuesday nights for Judy’s Women’s Meeting. During this time now until we leave for Home Assignment, she is going through the creation to Christ with the women as many of them had not been through it when we taught it before and they asked for us to teach them. Pray that Judy can clearly teach though it is in Pidgin English rather than Dom.
We have been hoping and praying for another Dom literacy class before we leave next year for home assignment (aka furlough). The lack of response by the community has been a bit discouraging but we just heard that three women from the main village have expressed interest and we are going to follow up on this. Please pray with us that God will move the hearts of more Dom men and women to come and learn to read their own language. The more literates we have in the community the more people there will be reading the New Testament in Dom! But it was encouraging to hear our landowner’s wife, Silia, on Tuesday night read from Ephesians 1:5-8 in Dom and share how God has been using the reading of His word in her life. If only more would catch that excitement. Listening to her read brought great joy as she struggled so much in the beginning with her reading but due to continuing to practice her reading as she has a great desire to read God’s Word, she has improved so much and is reading well.
Along with all the good to be thankful for there are a few challenges. Some of the Dom Christians are not walking in the truth as they should. They are living with compromise that is common knowledge in the community. Please pray that these believers will wake up and do the right thing.
Our coworkers, Gerolf and Mailis Wuest, are working hard at learning the Dom language. It isn’t easy to learn so please pray for them that they will make good, steady progress in language learning. Mailis, of course, is busy with an active 17 month old, so is limited in what time she can get in. Home assignment (aka furlough) is coming up soon (end of May 2014) and we are looking to the Lord for all the needs thereof; airfare, a good, quality vehicle, finances needed for living in the USA, all the traveling to see family, friends, supporting churches etc.
Please note, that due to the constant increase in the mail box rental fee and no longer receiving very much postal mail, we have opted to close our mail box in our little town at the end of the year and are having any mail or packages sent to our Mission’s main mailbox (3 hour’s drive away). Between us and the Wuests we should get our mail somewhat frequently.
We wish you all a wonderful Christmas Season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. May we all continue to be active in reaching the world with the Good News of Jesus! Thank you so much for your part in reaching the Dom with the Gospel of Christ.